Sigh…

And one can think that Bradley Manning is a patriotic whistleblower and also wonder about the wisdom of pushing him out in what appears to be strictly for the convenience of the Democratic Party.

I would bet you dollars to donuts had no one involved with the Democratic Party made it an issue, Bradley Manning would be Grand Marshall.

Please explain to us how the Democratic Party is dictating the Pride Board’s agenda. Oh wait, you must mean Lisa Williams:

Lisa Williams is President of One Source Public Affairs, a boutique consulting firm that specializes in the management of state, local and national political campaigns and strategic programs for non-profit organizations.

Since 2006, Lisa has served on the San Francisco Pride Board and currently serves as Board President. As President, she has recruited diverse community leaders to implement new ideas and programs that enhance the success of San Francisco Pride.

Lisa holds various leadership positions in numerous community organizations including the African American Democratic Club (Vice President), Black Women Organized for Political Action (State Board), African American Voter Awareness Project (President), and the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club (Board Member, PAC Committee). Lisa is a native San Franciscan with deep ties to the community and active in the local music scene as a promoter of musicians and DJs in San Francisco and Oakland.

I give up. Is it the DNC calling the shots or Obama because, you know, Obama and Lisa are both black and you know those people.

And please explain why the Democratic Party is so concerned and filled with terror at what might happen to the reputation of the Pride Parade.

This has nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans but, because you have a “Democrats screwed America and me in particular” hate boner, you can’t see anything as being separate from your tribal fixation.

This is all about people who are so desperate to validate Manning that they want to force an organization to risk their reputation and too bad if it goes south on them, at least you got your little piece of their parade. In the industry I work in we’ve turned away sponsorships and big money because we didn’t want our name associated with someone or the company they represented. We make these as business decisions with an eye on our future viability and reputation of the company. This is real world decision making and not moral preening and posturing for some imaginary crowd.

Everything that you have said has proved my original point. It’s a whole bunch of fun going on the internet and telling people how they should run their business or think or conduct their affairs. But in the long run, they need to look out for themselves because, if you’re wrong (and you are), and the shit hits the fan for them, the best you can offer them is a comment on a blog somewhere about what a damn shame it was and tsk tsk before you haed off to launch you next moral crusade.

How mighty brave of you. How fucking noble.

But once again, in our fucked up “personalities over principles” world, everyone’s knee jerk reaction here is to defend the almighty TBogg while the FDL “firebaggers” like me attack the full of shit TBogg, and meanwhile neither TBoggs defender nor the FDL “firebaggers” are making any real inroads against the forces that have ruined our country.

If you think you’re or I or any of us are doing that by commenting on a blog ….you’re doing it wrong.

Thank you, PW

You mean the continuous assertions that you’re a real live growed-up “reporter”.

If you feel the need to keep mentioning it…you’re not.

If it will make you feel better you can use your “oligarchy-1%-Nobama-corporatist-DRONEZ!-fascist dictator” comment macro that makes up most of the front page comments here.

We never get tired of hearing about people’s purity high-colonics….

Lets not go there. I chose to not respond on FDL. Someone has to be the adult.

Yes, I am have a repressed memory of when Teddy bad touched me in the comments and I felt the need to share.

Jesus, you’re a fucking retard.

My favorite joke so far this year is:

How do you tell who is the vegan at a dinner party?

Don’t worry. They’ll make a point of telling you.

Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Try the tofu trout.

Because god forbid you should find something on the internet that doesn’t validate your worldview. Let us know when you’re ready to come out from underneath the bed…We’ll be gentle and won’t move so quickly as to startle you.

I’m failing to find this “overwhelming support” you have pulled out of your ass. Manning has already proven to be very divisive. And Joey Cain, who nominated Manning only to have it overturned is feeling slighted so he’s pitching a fit and trying to throw his weight around. If people don’t like what the board did, they can vote them off next election, but the Manning people need Manning to get attention now because his trial is about to start.

So, for both sides, it’s all about the PR.

She and the board reviewed it and they changed it because they thought it was in the best interests of SF Pride, so it sounds like they did their job. It was an election for grand marshal, not President of the United States. Why so panicky other than your overwhelming desire for attention to be paid to Manning?

You guys keep proving my point.

First, we must consider that people who enlist in the Military are young and they are significantly lacking life experience.

You mean like Bradley Manning who thought it was a swell idea to steal a half million government documents and hand them over to Wikileaks and thinks he deserves a medal for it. Young people like that?

Well, “lawguy”: a person starts firing randomly in a shopping mall but, miraculously, no one gets hit.

No harm, no foul?

Maybe next time when you use “a democratic operative” you should use the Sneer font. It’s like Comic Sans but with more self-righteous serifs…

Jesus Fuck, for the thousandth time… had Manning limited himself to exposing specific acts he’d be a hero. On the other hand taking a half million documents including state department cables, that he in no way could have reviewed prior to release, and then just dumping them out for the world to read is reckless and stupid.

Maybe I can get one of my dogs to explain this to you since I’ve only repeated it over and over. At least they understand something when its repeated enough

I keep forgetting that everyone who chooses to enlist in the military (like Bradley Manning!) is a subhuman slab of beef unworthy of having an opinion.

Thanks for bringing that up.

By “democratic operative” I assume you mean SF Pride board president Lisa Williams who s a member of the Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club.

Well that is certainly disqualifying…

Because there really are only two sides to this. Right thinking people who think that Bradley Manning is The Greatest Hero Ever and non-right-thinking people who are obviously paid running dog lackeys of the corporatist/security/military state.

By the way, would it kill you to clean up your place every once in awhile. It’s so dusty we can’t watch you with our hidden cameras as you plot to bring America down by being really really bitter and sad.

Thank you for your cooperation.

How do you figure? KG’s the one who brought the Manning Support people into the narrative, he pointed out that Joey Cain nominated Manning and now Cain is butt hurt/feeling disrespected because they attention is not being paid. So tell me how I’ve “misrepresented” what has gone on.

C’mon, dazzle me with facts.

Oh bullshit Teddy. Chill the fuck out. I’ve spent the last two days reading every thing Kevin wrote, the Advocate, Metro Weekly, the Gate, Towelroad and all of the comments they contained about this before deciding to write this post.

I tried to be respectful to you in my reply because of the years together on FDL, but this is fucking beyond the pale.

My “opinion” on the matter is that the uproar over dropping Manning is being driven by the Bradley Manning Support Network who couldn’t , quite frankly, give a shit about the Pride parade and the damage this could cause them, as long it serves their purposes. Regardless of what you and some of the other people at FDL think of Manning, he’ s not universally viewed as a hero . I think he’s a messed up kid who thought he was doing good and instead did something incredibly dumb and immature without thinking about the consequences for himself and others.

Considering all of the people who have been fighting the good fight for gay equality in the armed services, people who actually organized and worked the issue, who have also condemned the selection on Manning, I think I’m on the right side of this issue.

And, yes Teddy, I’m not gay and you are, and I think I made it clear that I wasn’t speaking for the gay community. Judging by the reaction to this , I think it’s safe to say you don’t speak for the gay community on this either. On an issue like this, nobody could.